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Hockey

New Blast goaltender enjoys return to playing

Goalie Bryan Pitton didn't know what he was getting himself into when he agreed join the Brantford Blast earlier this month.

Pitton, a former Edmonton Oilers draft pick, was asked to come out by his brother, Blast player/coach Jason Pitton.

"Jay was like, 'Yeah, by the way we basically have to win every game from here on out,'" Bryan said prior to the Blast's Allan Cup Hockey game at the civic centre on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the Hamilton Steelhawks.

The last-place Blast have a record of six wins and 14 losses for 18 points. They trail the Dundas Real McCoys (7-12-2) by five points for the fourth and final playoff spot.

Brantford has four games remaining, while the Real McCoys have just three. Each regulation victory in ACH is worth three points.

The Blast were looking for help in net after No. 1 goalie Brett Leggatt was hit with a seven-game suspension.

"Being a competitor, you always want to do your best and win," said Bryan. "The fact that we need to win out the rest of the season to give ourselves the best opportunity to make the playoffs, that makes it a bit more interesting.

"It gives you something more to play for."

After almost a decade of professional hockey with stops in the American Hockey League, ECHL and overseas, Bryan decided to hang up his skates at the end of last season.

"If you were to tell me when I was growing up that I would play one year of professional hockey I would have been happy," he said. "To stretch it out over nine years and to get a bit of a sniff of the NHL and sit on the bench for five games was a dream come true."

But at some point every hockey player moves on in life and Bryan made that choice last year.

"I was just trying to start my life outside of hockey," said the 30-year-old.

"After playing nine years, you realize how important it is to be around friends and family. It seemed like if I wanted to play again this year it was going to have be somewhere abroad and I just wasn't willing to leave my friends and family for the 10th year in a row."

So Bryan dove head first into his new business - Pitt Crew Landscaping. However, around Christmastime, Jason started bugging his brother about playing again.

Once he agreed to return to the ice, Bryan immediately remembered what he enjoys about the game.

"I didn't really realize I missed it until I was back in the dressing room, hanging out with my brother and making new friends," he said.

Bryan has played one full game with Brantford, a 9-7 victory over Dundas on Feb. 2.

He said he is surprised the Blast are in last place.

"I feel like the forwards we have and the plays that they were making in that first game were incredible. Not only that, but our (defence) didn't really seem to give up much. Yeah we gave up seven goals but I think four of those seven went off our own players and in.

"It seems like we have a team to push for a playoff spot and, once we make it, go deep into the playoffs."

Against Dundas, his teammates staked Bryan to a 7-0 first-period lead.

"It was nice to start off with that 7-0 lead," he said. "I hadn't been on the ice since November.

"It was fun."

Bryan said Allan Cup Hockey is suited to what he is looking for at this stage in his life.

"The one thing that is nice about this hockey is, at the end of the day, you want to win but you're also out there to have fun."

ICE CHIPS . . . Last Friday's game against the Whitby Dunlops that was postponed due to poor ice conditions has been rescheduled to Feb. 25 at the civic centre at 2 p.m. The Blast led the game 2-1 after one period before poor ice behind one of the nets made it impossible to continue. The game will be restarted from the beginning . . . Friday's game is the team's 15th annual Tim Hortons Hockey Night with entertainment, prizes and giveaways scheduled. A Timbit tyke game will also take place after the first period.